Onions & garlic
Garlic
Plant cloves Oct; scapes Jun, bulbs mid Jul. Hardneck for 6b (Music, German Extra Hardy).
- Outside
- Plant cloves in Oct
- Where
- Raised bed or in ground
- Sun
- Full sun
- Water
- Even in spring; dry down before the July lift
- Harvest
- Scapes Jun; bulbs mid Jul
Care
- Water
- Watering is all about spring. Through April and May the swelling bulbs want steady moisture, a deep soak every 3 to 5 days, checking the top inch with a finger. Ease off as June turns: once the lower leaves yellow, let the soil dry so the papery wrappers set tight before the mid July lift.
- Sow
- Cloves, not seed, go in mid to late October. Split a good bulb and push its biggest cloves point-up, 3 inches down and 6 apart, then blanket with straw. A green shoot before winter is normal and fully cold-proof. Hardneck kinds are the ones that take a 6b freeze.
- Feed
- A shovel of compost or castings worked into the bed at October planting sets the base. Once spring shoots stand 6 inches, side-dress with fish and seaweed liquid every 2 weeks. Stop the moment the scapes show: feeding into bulbing invites rust and soft heads, so let the plant finish on stored fertility.
- Ready
- Snap off the scapes in June at their first curl so the plant feeds the bulb, not the flower. Dig the heads in mid July, when the lowest few leaves have gone brown but the upper ones hold green, each green leaf being one more wrapper layer. Left too long the cloves burst their skins. Cure whole plants 2 to 3 weeks in dry, airy shade, then trim to an inch.
- Trouble
- Orange dusty pustules on the leaves: rust, rare here and promoted by crowding, damp, and too much nitrogen, so space well and hold the feed. Bulbs that split into loose cloves: left in too long, so lift on time. Soft heads that will not store: a wet late cure, so cut the water by late June and cure dry.
In a bag?
- Yes
- Up to a 10–15 gal bag.
- Water
- A deep bag dries far faster than a bed through the spring bulking; give it 60 to 90 sec on the shower dial every 3 to 5 days, then dry it down the same way before the July lift.
- Feed
- Top-dress monthly on top of the spring liquid feed; every watering leaches the bag. Still stop at scapes.
- Sow
- A 10 to 15 gallon bag holds a handful of cloves at 6 inch spacing, deep enough for the 3-inch planting plus a straw mulch. The bag is tied up October to July.
Garlic bookends the whole season, planted as cloves in October and lifted as fat bulbs the following mid July. In between come the June scapes, the first genuinely exciting harvest of summer.
Growing
Plant the biggest cloves from the best bulbs in mid to late October, pointy end up, three inches deep and six apart, then mulch with straw. Hardneck types are the right call for a 6b winter. Shoots that show in November are normal and shrug off the cold. Cut the scapes in June when they make their first curl, which sends the energy back down to the bulb. Lift in mid July when about half the leaves have browned, and cure whole plants two to three weeks somewhere dry, airy, and shaded before trimming; the best heads get set aside for October's planting. Watering is a spring job; by late June the hose stays coiled so the wrappers cure tight for the July lift.
Varieties
Music and German Extra Hardy are the house picks: big cloves, unbothered by cold, storing well into spring. Chesnok Red is the one to add for roasting.
Pests
The spring flight of allium leaf miner, mid April into May, lays into the standing crop; netting during those weeks is the organic answer. Beyond that, garlic is the least-bothered plant in the garden; even the deer walk past.
In the kitchen
Scapes become pesto and stir-fry fodder in June, and the cured bulbs carry the kitchen from July until the braid runs out. Roast a whole head from the small-bulb pile before it gets a chance to sprout.